# The World without Us.. America pulls out. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 9, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565 "2013-06-09T17:01:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/21 "2013-06-11T13:53:22Z")
> [@Blue\_Mood](#): > > What about the US itself - any projected scenarios there? Excellent healthcare/education for all? Paying off debts? No, we’ll just go broke a little more slowly because of the money we’ve already committed to entitlements. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/22 "2013-06-11T14:14:55Z")
No after one day the world would kiss our feet and gas would drop to 25 cents a gallon and those countries would purge all radicals who even say bad things about the west. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/23 "2013-06-11T14:36:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie, but does it assume that US isolationism includes not sending troops and supplies to UN peacekeeping forces? If so, then the UN becomes toothless. (More so even than now.) You seem to be confusing the UN with NATO, or individual operations. We provide [virtually no personnel](http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/contributors.shtml) or materiel for UN peacekeeping operations. Our last significant peacekeeping involvement was in Somalia. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/24 "2013-06-11T20:11:03Z")
Why would China need to attack Taiwan? China didn’t attack Hong Kong, they simply informed Britain that they would be taking over. If China told the US and the world that they would assume sovereignty over Taiwan on 1/1/2015, what are the chances we would actually do anything about it? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/25 "2013-06-11T20:16:58Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Why would China need to attack Taiwan? Because Taiwan has an army and navy and would presumably defend itself. > [@August West](#): > > China didn’t attack Hong Kong, they simply informed Britain that they would be taking over. Yes, but Britain had a lease which was expiring, and Hong Kong had no army of its own. Taiwan is different. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/26 "2013-06-11T21:13:42Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Because Taiwan has an army and navy and would presumably defend itself. Britain had an army and navy and chose to defend their holdings in the Falklands, but not Hong Kong. I think we can guess why that is. If China acted to “peacefully” annex Taiwan, you can bet the US and the rest of the world would quickly find reasons why that would be acceptable. Taiwan’s military would likely not act alone to defend themselves (total guess on my part) > [@](#): > > Yes, but Britain had a lease which was expiring, and Hong Kong had no army of its own. Taiwan is different. The lease was only part of the handover (The New Territories), Britain had possession “in perpetuity” of Hong Kong island and Kowloon, yet ceded them peacefully. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/27 "2013-06-11T23:19:17Z")
Short answer, Taiwan is defendable, Hong Kong is not. Hong Kong is close to the mainland- a peninsula and some offshore islands; Taiwan is separated from the mainland by the 110 mile-wide Taiwan Strait. Seizing Taiwan would be a major military amphibious operation, while Hong Kong could be invaded with motor boats. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/28 "2013-06-12T12:50:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You seem to be confusing the UN with NATO, or individual operations. We provide [virtually no personnel](http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/contributors.shtml) or materiel for UN peacekeeping operations. Our last significant peacekeeping involvement was in Somalia. The US contributes more to the UN peacekeeping budget than any other nation ([cite](http://www.betterworldcampaign.org/issues/funding/)). I was assuming that would end as well. And I think cutting the peacekeeping budget by more than a quarter would have a bad effect on the boys in the blue helmets, and their ability to project force. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/29 "2013-06-12T13:07:34Z")
Probably, but you said troops and supplies. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565/30 "2013-06-12T13:59:33Z")
Face it, the “American Century” is over. It is not worth it to be “world cop” any more. Let China and Russia start doing some policing-my guess is that they will do a better job (take the Somali pirates for example). Frankly, it is costing the debt-ridden USA far too much. And to Europe-better make nice to Putin; we are not going to back you up any more-we cannot afford it. The interesting case will be Africa-its continued instability will determine just who will exploit its resources. If South Africa descends into chaos, then China can have the job of policing Africa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-without-us-america-pulls-out/660565.md?page=1)